Thin Ice of a New Day
Chapter 4
Sam returned to the same diner, took a seat at the counter and placed his order with Darla's afternoon replacement. Instead of waiting inside the diner, he decided to make a trip to the pharmacy across the narrow main street and replace some of their dwindling medical supplies. He hadn't missed the raised temperature of his brother's skin as he'd helped him lie down on the motel bed, nor had he missed the fact that Dean had agreed to take a nap in the middle of the day with no argument.
That alone told him how depleted his brother's reserves were at the moment.
As he entered the small drug store and shook the slushy snow from his boots, he grabbed a basket from the stack near the counter and proceeded to the first aid aisle, determined to get enough supplies to re-stock their first aid kit as well as enough medication to help his brother fight off the fever he'd managed to develop. Sam didn't think they'd need prescription antibiotics – the last time he'd checked, the bullet wound hadn't been infected. He was pretty sure his older brother's current state was due to the long trek through the cold coupled with lowered resistance due to the trauma his body had been through.
He grabbed a large bottle of extra strength Tylenol and tossed it into the basket along with the packages of sterile gauze pads, large tube of Neosporin and roll of medical tape. His attention focused on scanning the shelves for antiseptic wipes, he was surprised when he backed into another person.
"I'm so sorry," he apologized as he turned, reaching an arm out to stop the young woman from loosing her balance. A quick flash of Nancy, the receptionist from the Colorado sheriff's office flashed through his mind, but the memory was fleeting and on second look, the young woman in front of him only slightly resembled the young virgin.
"No problem," the woman responded, a friendly smile on her face. She raised a hand to brush a stray of long brown hair from her face. "It was my fault," she shrugged shyly. "I wasn't really looking where I was going."
Sam nodded, returning the smile. "At least there was no blood spilled, right?".
The girl bobbed her head in agreement. "But, at least we would have been in the right place." She gestured to the shelves filled with first aid supplies, her eyebrows raised as she tried to hide her embarrassment.
Sam laughed in return. "Good point." He switched the basket to his left hand and held out his right in greeting. "Hi, I'm Sam."
"Kara." The girl took his hand and shook it firmly. She motioned toward the basket. "Stocking up?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. My brother, uh, cut himself up pretty bad the other day. Just trying to stay ahead of the demand."
Kara's eyes widened in concern. "Oh, I hope he's okay."
"Um, yeah," Sam assured her. "He'll be fine." His eyes finally noticed the long white smock she was wearing. "Do you work here?"
"Yeah. I'm an assistant to Mr. Rowland, the pharmacist." She crooked a thumb behind her toward the pharmacy counter. "I'm actually more of a glorified check-out clerk, but Assistant Pharmacist sounds so much more impressive." She grinned at Sam, tilting her head as she studied him. "I don't remember seeing you in here before. Are you new in town?"
"Yeah, I mean no. I'm staying at the Perham Palms. My brother and I kind of had a little accident a few miles out of town. Our car ended up in the ditch and we ended up here."
"Is that how your brother hurt himself?"
Sam shook his head. "Sort of." As much as he was enjoying Kara's company, he knew he needed to get back to the diner and then the motel to check on Dean. "I have to go," he backed up toward the check out and placed the basket on the counter. "It was really nice meeting you."
Kara's smile faded a bit. "Uh, yeah. You too. I hope I see you again."
Sam quickly paid the cashier and grabbed the plastic bag she'd placed his supplies into. "Me, too." He gave Kara a nod and a smile as he back out the door. "Bye."
"Bye, Sam." Kara replied, her eyes watching his form as he trudged his way back across the road and disappeared into the diner.
Sam had been pleased to find his brother still asleep when he'd returned to the motel room. Reaching across from the doorway, he carefully laid the bags from the pharmacy and the diner on the small table and shrugged out of his coat. He'd turned up the heat before he'd left in an attempt to make things a little more comfortable for Dean and the warmth was a welcome change from the frigid temperature outside.
Toeing off his boots, he crossed the small space to the bed, noting the slight flush across his brother's cheeks. A light hand on his forehead told Sam that, while still warm, the older man's temperature hadn't climbed in his absence and he was still resting comfortably.
He dug the Tylenol from the bag and shook out three gel capsules from the bottle. He took a seat on the edge of Dean's bed and placed a hand on his brother's hip, giving it a gently shake.
"Hey, Dean. Wake up, food's here."
Dean mumbled and turned his face into the pillow.
"Hey. Man, come on. At least wake up enough to take some pills."
Another shake earned him weak glare, but served its purpose.
"Here," Sam held out the pills which his brother took and popped into his mouth. He washed them down with a swallow of water from the already open bottle on the nightstand between the beds before settling back down under the blankets.
"You hungry?"
Dean shook his head. "Just tired," he mumbled. "Go away."
Sam chuckled and shook his head, but complied. His brother wasn't known as the most gracious patient in the world. Whenever he was sick or hurt, he simply wanted to be left alone and Sam had learned the hard way that leaving Dean alone to sleep it off was usually the best for everyone concerned. If Dean needed something, he'd let him know – usually loudly and insistently. But for now, he'd just let his brother rest. He'd worry about checking the wound later.
After finishing his soup and sandwich, Sam packed the rest of the food into the small refrigerator provided in the room in case Dean was hungry when he woke up. Without internet access, Sam couldn't do anything more than go over the information he had found at the library earlier, so he started to go through the bios he had on each victim, making notations on a pad in an effort to find some kind of pattern to help him connect the men and identify why they were chosen by this demon.
After a few hours, Sam leaned back in his chair and rolled his head, sighing in relief as the vertebrae cracked into place and the muscles eased their tension. Pulling his attention from his notes, he frowned at the silence that had overtaken the room. There was no noise from the road outside, which was not that surprising considering the driving conditions, the constant hum of the furnace was conspicuously absent as was the familiar rhythmic sound of –
Sam jumped from the chair, knocking it over in his haste to get to his brother.
It had only taken a moment for him to realize that the sound he was missing was the sound of his brother breathing. As he approached the bed, Sam felt a sudden shill and the hairs on his arms stood up. He threw himself to his knees next to the bed and grabbed his brother's shoulders, giving them a rough shake in spite of the wound he knew was there.
"Dean!" His fingers fumbled at his brother's neck, finding a quick pulse beating under the skin. He lowered his ear to the older man's mouth but could make out no signs of breath. "Damnit, Dean! Wake up!"
A sudden force pushed him back, away from the bed and he stumbled back against the door. His own breath was coming in rapid pants as he searched the room, his eyes finding nothing but his brother's still form.
"No way!" he whispered. Sam dove toward the weapons bag, fumbling around inside until he found what he'd been looking for. Pulling his arm out, he quickly unscrewed the cap on the silver flask and turned, forcibly splashing the water across the area directly above his brother. "You can't have him!" Sam shouted as the holy water hit something invisible yet seemingly corporeal, steam rising from thin air as the demonic presence was scalded by the blessed liquid.
A loud howl filled the small room as the demon appeared momentarily before completely disappearing through the ceiling. As soon as the entity was gone, Dean gasped, sucking in a choked breath, his body contorting as if in pain.
"Easy," Sam hurried to his brother's side, supporting him as his body arched in an attempt to get some much needed air into his starving lungs. "Just breathe, man. I've got ya, I've got ya."
After a few moments, Dean's breathing evened out and Sam lowered him back to the mattress, his eyes locked onto his brother's very confused green ones.
"What the hell?" Dean rasped out. He was shivering and Sam pulled the blankets tighter around his shoulders.
"Take it easy," Sam instructed, taking a deep breath himself in an effort to get his own heart to slow to a normal pace. "It's okay. You're okay. Just breathe."
Dean nodded and closed his eyes, attempting to comply with his brother's instructions. After a few more minutes, he was able to breathe without gasping and opened his eyes to search his brother's face. "What was that?" he asked, his voice raspy.
Sam could only shake his head. "Our demon. I guess it decided it didn't want us interfering in its little playground."
"Damn," Dean whispered.
His shivering was increasing and Sam frowned as he touched his brother's cheek. "Shit, Dean, you're freezing." Sam reached across the bed and grabbed the comforter from his own, placing it across his brother and tucking in the sides to hold him what little warmth had. "Less than two hours ago you were running a fever, and now you feel like—"
"A popsicle," Dean interjected with a grin. "Dude, why am I wet?"
Sam couldn't help but return the grin. "Maybe you're melting." He knew the attention was hard for Dean to accept and it was a natural reaction for the older man to deflect any type of concern.
At Dean's look of surprise, Sam chuckled. "Holy water," he explained. "The demon was invisible, but I figured it had to be there since you stopped breathing and, I don't know, I just felt it was there, so…" he made a tossing motion with his hand and shrugged.
Dean nodded slowly as he listened to his brother's explanation. "Good thinking." He settled under the blankets and looked back at his brother. "So you saw it?"
Sam shook his head. "No. Not until after I doused it. It was invisible. After I hit it with the Holy water, it kind of took shape – sort of like a flimsy version of what we saw in the clearing yesterday. Then it just vanished."
Dean frowned as memories began to clarify. "The clearing…. I was in the clearing…"
Sam sat back, watching his brother intently. "Right then? With the demon?"
Dean nodded. "Yeah, it was just like what we saw." He returned his attention to Sam. "It was like I was dreaming or something, but I was there, Sam. I know I was there."
"Which would explain why you felt like a popsicle."
Dean just shrugged.
"Which us brings us back to how the hell do we find this thing before it comes back to finish what it started?"
"Demons don't just float around as mist, Sammy. They have to possess someone. If we can figure out who that is….."
Sam pushed himself up from the bed. "We can trap it. That's gonna be a piece of cake, right?" His sarcasm wasn't lost on the older man, who could only shrug in response. He watched as his brother crossed to one of the duffle bags and pulled out a thick book and a large black permanent marker before turning back toward the bed with a grin. "But in the meantime, I say we take a few precautions."
TBC
